Do you hear the note of cynicism in Pilate’s question? He has just asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 18:33, and Jesus has replied that “My kingdom is not of this world.” 18: 36. “Are you a king then?” asks Pilate and Jesus answers, “You say rightly that I am a king, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” I can almost see Pilate shake his head in a measure of despair. “What is truth?” Poor Pilate, raised in a pagan society, where the Roman gods and the Greek gods were more like superhuman men, with all the same lusts and desires of human beings; and where Caesar claimed worship as a god; - living in a day of many opposing philosophies; - appointed a governor by ruthless Rome to whom might was right, and the empire mustbe controlled by force; - appointed to rule over the Jews with their strange and fanatical religion; Yes, poor, Pilate - he was portrayed quite sympathetically in Gibson’s film but his life, hisbackground and his career had all combined to make him cynical about life, and unable to believe that there was such a thing as truth. I have chosen to speak on Pilate’s question today, because it reflects so perfectly the spiritof our age.

1. There is a terrible cynicism gripping our society today.a. It is reflected in every newscast dealing with politics and government. Political leaders try to convey the impression that they are the ones who can be trusted, even when their history ties them into scandal and deceit. They try to convince us that they of all people are going to tell us the truth when their history is full of lies and coverups. And the people are justified in asking “What is truth?”b. This cynicism is reflected in the lack of moral values in our society. What does society tell us? Kids cannot be expected to remain pure and refuse to engage in sex until marriage. The stats tell us how many youth are engaging in sex by such and such an age, so therefore we must put condom machines in school washrooms, and prescribe birth control pills for the girls, even without their parents’ knowledge, because after all, we must protect them against aids and other diseases. And of course, this will result in unwanted pregnancies, so therefore, we must provide publicly funded abortion clinics, and the people who are really in the wrong are those people who dare to suggest that life begins at conception, and that abortion takes a human life. What is truth? And of course we must not speak about homosexuality, because if we speak about it, it shows that we are homophobic and involved in gay bashing. To protect this “alternate lifestyle”, we